A conventional approach to assessing power usage of a data storage array involves manually monitoring an external meter which feeds electricity (i.e., street power) to the power supply units of the data storage array. Along these lines, an operator of the data storage array may take readings from this external electricity meter before and after a period of use (e.g., several days, a month, etc.) to determine how many megawatts hours (MWHs) are used by the data storage array over that period of use.
If the cost of a megawatt hour is known, then the overall cost of electricity needed to operate the data storage array can be calculated. As a result, the operator may be able to estimate the overall cost of electricity which is required to operate the data storage array over a period of time in the future.